Brian Lee plays the piano with his band at Ticklers Piano Show on Bourbon Street, following the opening of the street, on the day of 2025 Sugar Bowl, after people were killed by a man driving a truck in an attack during New Year’s celebrations, in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., January 2, 2025.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

A mix of law enforcement, street performers and football fans has filled New Orleans’ blocks as the city inches back to normalcy while mourning victims of the deadly New Year’s rampage in which an Army veteran ploughed a truck into revellers.

Also read: New Orleans truck attacker ‘inspired’ by the Islamic State: FBI

The attack along Bourbon Street killed 14 people, along with the driver, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who officials said was inspired by the Islamic State militant group. Jabbar was fatally shot in a firefight with police after steering his speeding truck around a barricade and ploughing into the crowd. About 30 people were injured.

Authorities finished processing the scene on Thursday (January 2, 2025) morning, removing the last of the bodies. Bourbon Street — famous worldwide for music, open-air drinking and festive vibes — reopened for business by early afternoon.

On the same block where the attack took place, trombone player and lifelong New Orleanian Jonas Green said it was important for his band to be out there the day after the violence.

“I know with this music, it heals, it transforms the feelings that we’re going through into something better,” Green said. “Got to keep on going.”

The Sugar Bowl college football game between Notre Dame and Georgia, which was postponed by a day in the interest of national security, was played Thursday evening.

The Joan of Arc parade in the French Quarter is still scheduled to take place Monday (January 6, 2025) to kick off carnival season ahead of Mardi Gras, said Antoinette de Alteriis, one of the organisers. She said they expect close to its typical crowd of around 30,000 participants

FBI confident it was ‘lone wolf attack’

The FBI has continued to hunt for clues about Jabbar but, a day into its investigation, the agency said it was confident he was not aided by anyone else in the attack, which killed an 18-year-old aspiring nurse, a single mother, a father of two and a former Princeton University football star, among others.

The FBI said that hours before the attack, Jabbar, a 42-year-old American citizen from Texas, posted five videos on his Facebook account in which he proclaimed his support for the Islamic State group and previewed the violence that he would soon unleash in the famed French Quarter district.

It was the deadliest IS-inspired assault on US soil in years, laying bare what federal officials have warned is a resurgent international terrorism threat. It also comes as the FBI and other agencies brace for dramatic leadership upheaval, and likely policy changes, after President-elect Donald Trump’s administration takes office.

Christopher Raia, the deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, stressed there was no indication of a connection between the New Orleans attack and the explosion Wednesday of a Tesla Cybertruck filled with explosives outside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel.

The New Orleans attack plans also included the placement of crude bombs in the neighbourhood in an apparent attempt to cause more carnage, officials said. Two improvised explosive devices left in coolers several blocks apart were rendered safe at the scene. Other devices were determined to be nonfunctional.

Investigators also were trying to understand more about Jabbar’s path to radicalization, which they say culminated with him picking up a rented truck in Houston on Dec. 30 and driving it to New Orleans the following night.

The FBI recovered a black IS flag from Jabbar’s rented pickup and reviewed five videos posted to Facebook, including one in which he said he originally planned to harm his family and friends but was concerned news headlines would not focus on the “war between the believers and the disbelievers,” Raia said.

Jabbar also stated he joined IS before last summer and provided a last will and testament, the FBI said.

Jabbar joined the Army in 2007, serving on active duty in human resources and information technology and deploying to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010, the service said. He transferred to the Army Reserve in 2015 and left in 2020 with the rank of staff sergeant.

A US government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorised to speak publicly, said Jabbar travelled to Egypt in 2023, staying in Cairo for a week, before returning to the US and then travelling to Toronto for three days. It was not immediately clear what he did during those travels.

Abdur-Rahim Jabbar, Jabbar’s younger brother, told The Associated Press on Thursday it “doesn’t feel real” that his brother could have done this.

“I never would have thought it’d be him,” he said. “It’s completely unlike him.” He said his brother had been isolated in the last few years but also had been in touch with him recently and did not see any signs of radicalisation.

On Bourbon Street, flowers and candles were arranged as memorials to the victims, while yellow posts were set up on the surrounding blocks. By Thursday night, bouncers danced to music blasting from clubs, tourists posed for photos and a group of street performers preparing to flip over a line of people had no trouble attracting a massive audience.

Mark Tabor, the manager of a Willie’s Chicken Shack on Bourbon Street, said it was strange to feel the disconnect between the normal hustle of the French Quarter outside and the violence he had witnessed less than 48 hours earlier.

“I’m glad they cleaned up the streets, but it’s like everything’s forgotten,” he said. “It’s sad.”

New Delhi:

In the early hours of New Year’s Day, an attack in the US city of New Orleans left at least 15 dead and dozens injured. The suspect, identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old US Army veteran, drove a rented pickup truck into a crowd. Jabbar, who died in a shoot-out with police, was a lone-wolf terrorist who had pledged allegiance to the terror group ISIS in online videos posted just hours before the assault, according to the FBI.

There were five videos posted on Jabbar’s Facebook account. In the first video, Jabbar said he originally planned to harm his family and friends but was concerned that the news headline would not focus on “war between the believers and disbelievers.”

This attack marked the deadliest ISIS-inspired assault on US soil since the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, which saw 49 people killed.

Lone-Wolf Tactics

The Islamic State has not officially claimed responsibility for the New Orleans attack. Unlike coordinated terrorist cells, lone wolves like Jabbar operate independently, often inspired by extremist propaganda disseminated online. This modus operandi of lone wolves is a challenge to traditional counterterrorism strategies, which rely heavily on infiltrating networks and intercepting communications.

Lone offenders typically employ “easy-access” methods such as vehicle ramming, edged weapons, or firearms to inflict mass casualties. The Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and the National Counterterrorism Center issued a bulletin on December 6, 2024, warning law enforcement agencies about potential lone-wolf attacks during the holiday season. Despite these warnings, the New Orleans tragedy could not be averted.

Online Extremism

Following its territorial defeat in 2019, ISIS has shifted its focus to the digital realm, establishing what counterterrorism experts describe as a “Digital Caliphate.” This online network uses social media, encrypted messaging apps, and dark web platforms to radicalise individuals, share propaganda, and provide tactical guidance for attacks.

Investigators probing the New Orleans attack found videos Jabbar posted online just hours before the assault, pledging loyalty to ISIS and calling for violence. While his radicalisation process remains under investigation, early findings suggest he may have been influenced by online platforms where extremist content flourishes.

Social media companies have made strides in removing extremist content, but the rapid migration of such materials to encrypted platforms poses a challenge.

Domestic Radicalisation

Jabbar was a US Army veteran with no prior known ties to extremist networks. According to authorities, his radicalisation appeared to occur relatively quickly and was likely driven by personal grievances.

This pattern mirrors other recent cases in which individuals have turned to extremist ideologies as a means of finding purpose or expressing anger. Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), the Central Asia-based affiliate of ISIS, has been particularly effective in leveraging online platforms to radicalise individuals.

Thomas Matthew Crooks, the man behind an assassination attempt on US President-elect Donald Trump in July last year, acted as a lone wolf. Crooks was not part of any terror group, neither were the police able to establish any connection between him and extremist ideologies.

Experts have warned that the psychological profiles of lone-actor terrorists often reveal a combination of personal instability and ideological alignment with extremist causes.

New York, US:

Hundreds of anti-Israel demonstrators gathered at New York City’s Times Square on New Year’s Day on Wednesday, calling for an “intifada revolution”. Attendees waved Palestinian flags and carried placards that said “Zionism is cancer,” “No war on Iran,” and “End all US aid to Israel.”

Incidentally, the protest happened just hours after a terrorist carried out a deadly car attack in the French Quarter of New Orleans, that killed at least 15 people.

The protest was reportedly organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the People’s Forum. Demonstrators shouted slogans –“There is only one solution: Intifada revolution,” “Resistance is glorious – we will be victorious,” and “Gaza, you make us proud,” according to a report by the New York Post.

NEW YEARS EVE GAZA PALESTINE PROTEST IN NYC TIMES SQUARE OVERNIGHT.

MORE PLANNED TODAY TO START 2025#HELLO2025 #HAPPYNEWYEAR #CNNNYE pic.twitter.com/QkSEjWRuKd

— Chaos Alerts (@ChaosAlertsOnX) January 1, 2025

In one of the videos of the protest circulating on social media, a female demonstrator wearing a keffiyeh can be heard saying, “We’re sending you back to Europe you white b-ches.”

“Go back to Europe! Go back to Europe,” she shouted at counter-protestors outside the event at the Big Apple.

Anti-Israel protester shouts “H*mas” and “go back to Europe” at pro-Israel counter protesters in Times Square pic.twitter.com/N3JiyzRGcm

— Luke Tress (@luketress) January 1, 2025

Another speaker shouted through a megaphone, “2024 was a year of struggle against the crime of Zionism.”

The came hours after US Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, flying an ISIS flag from his truck, swerved around makeshift barriers and plowed into New Orleans’ crowded French Quarter on New Year’s Day. Police officials said 42-year-old Jabbar may have had the help of others to carry out the attack in which 15 people were killed.

The attack injured about 30 other people, including two police officers wounded by gunfire from Jabbar, who was later shot dead by cops. The attack took place around 3:15 am near the intersection of Canal and Bourbon Streets, a historic tourist destination known for its music and bars where crowds were celebrating the New Year. Three improvised pipe bombs were found nearby in the tourist-drawing French Quarter, including one in Jabbar’s truck.

US President Joe Biden condemned what he called a “despicable” act and said investigators were looking into whether there might be a link to a Tesla truck fire outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas. So far, there was no evidence linking the two events, Biden said.

“The FBI also reported to me that mere hours before the attack, he posted videos on social media indicating that he’s inspired by ISIS, expressing the desire to kill,” Biden said of the New Orleans suspect.